Did you have a favorite part of the playground when you were a kid? For me it was the slide. The park in my childhood neighborhood had a metal slide with a bar across the landing that made it easy to ratchet up your speed upon take off. Among the neighbor kids, learning how to flip over the bar was considered a right of passage. I clearly remember flipping upside down in the sunshine, feet slamming down onto the metal with a bang before slip-sliding down into the sand below. As much fun as it was, that little metal slide pales in comparison to these awesome slides we found in playgrounds, water parks, (and in one case - a townhouse!) around the world! Join us in saying a big collective WHHHHHEEEEEE!!!

1. Airport Slide – Singapore

Singapore’s Changi Airport was recently voted best in the world, and I’m pretty sure it has a lot to do with this 40-foot indoor slide (the country’s tallest) that gives passengers traveling from gate to gate an awesome alternative to the escalator. Watch this video to experience a trip down the slide at T3!

2. Giant Tube Slide – Technical University of Munich

One might expect the Faculty Building for Math and Computer Science at the Technical University of Munich to be a very serious place, but the reality suggests even the scholars who walk its halls still remember the joys of being a kid. The atrium of the building contains twin 4-story slides, a much faster way to get from the top floor to the bottom. Experience the slide with this video.

3. Sliding Rock – North Carolina

Sliding Rock is a 50 foot natural water slide that ends in a 7 foot deep pool of water. There are 2 observation platforms, and lifeguards on duty during the season. You just climb the in-river stair case, plop down on your butt, and slide. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s a thrill, and one of the best affordable day trip ideas in the Southeast.

4. SkyHouse – Lower Manhattan, NY

Designed by architect David Hotson, the SkyHouse occupies the top four floors of a skyscraper in Lower Manhattan. It sports a 50-foot climbing wall in the living room, and an 80-foot metal slide that snakes its way from the attic to the ground floor!

5. Monster Slide – City Museum, St. Louis

Comprised of wrought iron slinkies, fire trucks, stone turrets, airplane fuselages, multi-story slides of all sizes and shapes, and a pair of ball pits modeled after the Thunderdome, MonstroCity makes me want to plan a trip to this museum post-haste. See what it’s like to ride these slides in this video.

6. Hill of Slides – Governor’s Island, New York

When completed, Slide Hill will feature four slides of various heights, making it a center for activity and play. The longest slide, for those seeking a thrill, will be 48-feet-long. There are also plans to build wider and shorter slides for families and young children.

7. Blaxland Riverside Park – Sydney Australia

Officially opened in 2012, Blaxland Common Regional Playspace is one of a number of parks that make up Sydney Olympic Parklands. Custom designed installations at the park include a double flying fox, tunnel slides, ground mounted slides, a giant swing, climbing walls, a suspended climbing net, a water park and a 12m high tree house.